SNB & CHF

We’re way overdue for a sell-everything recession, one that the Fed will only make worse by pursuing its usual policies of lowering interest rates and goosing easy money. As I noted last week, central banks, like generals, always fight the last war–until the war is lost. The global economy is careening into recession (call it a “slowdown” if you are employed by the Corporate-State Media), and while we don’t yet know...

-Large Gold Bullion Shipment Moves From London to Dublin Gold Vaults As Brexit Concerns Deepen– Growing demand from investors to relocate tangible assets out of the UK– “Zurich continues to be the most sought-after location for storage, but Dublin has already surpassed Hong Kong and will likely usurp the second spot from London” Gold bars sit across a one kilo gold bar at precious metals storage specialist GoldCore....

Last week, in part I of this essay, we discussed why a central planner cannot know the right interest rate. Central planner’s macroeconomic aggregate measures like GDP are blind to the problem of capital consumption, including especially capital consumption caused by the central plan itself. GDP has an intrinsic bias towards consumption, and makes no distinction between consumption of the yield on capital, and...

Swiss Franc The Euro has risen by 0.05% at 1.1331 EUR/CHF and USD/CHF, February 11(see more posts on EUR/CHF and USD/CHF, ) Source: markets.ft.com - Click to enlarge FX Rates Overview: Lifted by the re-opening of Chinese markets after the week-long Lunar New Year holiday, global equities are trading firmer. Outside of Japanese markets that were closed, the large markets in Asia–China, Taiwan, South Korea, and...

11.02.2019 – The consumer price index (CPI) fell by 0.3% in January 2019 compared with the previous month, reach-ing 101.3 points (December 2015 = 100). Inflation was 0.6% compared with the same month of the pre-vious year. These are the results of the Federal Statistical Office (FSO). The decrease of 0.3% compared with the previous month can be explained by several factors including falling prices for clothing and...

According to legend, the person who unraveled the Gordian Knot would rule the world. No one succeeded until Alexandar the Great took his mighty sword and sliced the knot in half. A young boy saw him afterward, crying on the steps of the Temple of Apollo. “Why are you crying?” the boy asked, “you just conquered the world. “Yes'” Alexander wept, ” now there is nothing else for me to do.” Investors are not as cursed as...

Switzerland’s trains are renowned for their punctuality, but do they deserve this reputation? (Christian Beutler / Keystone) Trains operated by the state-owned Swiss national railway operator are less punctual than company statistics make believe. A private websiteexternal link, launched in 2017 and compiled from data provided by the transport ministry, found that on average one in six intercity trains – or just under...

Look no further than Brexit in Britain, the yellow vests in France and the Deplorables in the U.S. for manifestations of a broken social contract and decaying social order. Among the many trends currently in play, Gordon Long and I discuss three that will matter as 2019 progresses: 2019 Themes (56 minutes) 1. Final stages of the debt supercycle 2. Decay of the social order/social contract 3. Social controls:...

A press conference to announce the results of the auction was held on Friday (© KEYSTONE / ANTHONY ANEX) The Swiss government has raised CHF380 million ($379 million) from auctioning fifth-generation (5G) mobile radio frequencies, it said on Friday. The three Swiss main providers, Swisscom, Sunrise Communications and privately owned Salt, each received part of the spectrum after newcomer Dense Air dropped out of the...

Left to right: board chair Swiss Entrepreneurs Foundation Urs Berger (Mobiliar), foundation managing director Peter Staehli, Johann Schneider-Ammann, Didier Denat (CS), Lukas Gähwiler (UBS) Start-ups and innovative small and medium-sized businesses are to be encouraged to stay in Switzerland thanks to a new fund of up to CHF500 million ($499 million). The initiative, from Swiss Entrepreneurs Foundationexternal link...